In October 2020, 400 community members met online to discuss financial health, sustainability, and best business practices through a lens of diversity, equity, and social justice.
Programming addressed financial and legal issues as well as the broader context of defining and asserting value, solidarity, and the importance of community.
About the Event
37 speakers and 26 programs including: keynotes, artist interventions, panel conversations, discussion groups, workshops, and in-depth sessions centered around the theme of DEFINING VALUE(S).

How do we define value in the art world? How should our values influence resource allocation? How can we work toward greater equity and a solidarity economy?
Between the pandemic, protests, and the Zoomification of our world, 2020 marks a pivotal moment in cultural development. Crisis threatens the very nature of what many of us do, yet it also affords us a moment to stop, think, and assess the systems that have historically guided us. The current moment is an invitation to critique and rebuild the way in which we assign value, with our own values in mind.
Art World Conference addresses market-driven economic realities, while foregrounding creative solutions and the solidarity economy. Financial health, sustainability, and best business practices will be discussed through a lens of diversity, equity, and social justice. Programming will address many of the unique opportunities and challenges faced by visual artists, freelancers, and arts professionals. Topics include financial and legal issues ranging from sales, credit, investing, and licensing, to the broader context of defining and asserting value, solidarity, and the importance of community.

MC Dyalekt
MC, Playwright, Educator, Co-Founder of the Race & Wealth Podcast Network and See Change
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Eva Mayhabal Davis
Independent Curator, Co-Director at Transmitter, and Founder of El Salón (Cultural Partner)
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Helen Toomer
Co-Founder/Director of Stoneleaf Retreat and Co-Founder of Art Mamas (Cultural Partner)
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Supporters







Art Omi, Christa Blatchard, Stephanie Bradley, Sherri Brueggemann, Julia Clark, Lisa Draper, Ben Fino-Radin, Jill Gerson, Arianne Grimaldi, Elisa Jimenez, Sarah Kernohan, Julia Klein, Linda Lauro-Lazin, Corina Larkin, Mai Mabllab, Aldy Milliken, Nasim Mobasheri, Deborah Obalil, Rebecca Ochab, Ox-Bow, Renaud Proch, Steven Sergiovanni, Orly Shemesh, Erin Sircy, Amy Smith, Jane South, Kay Takeda, Paige West, Anna Westrick, Ben Whine, Allison Wyper
Courses
Amy Whitaker
Author, Faculty Member at New York University
Holding an MFA and an MBA, Amy studies the friction between art and business and proposes new structures to support economic sustainability for artists. Her third book, Economics of Visual Arts, was published in the fall of 2021 with Cambridge University Press. Amy is also author of two other books, Museum Legs and Art Thinking. Serving on the arts administration faculty at NYU, Amy researches what would happen if artists retained equity in their work. Her work on fractional equity has appeared in Management Science (with Kraussl) in the "Fast Track" intended for "high-impact research that is of broad interest.”
Amy's work has been featured in The Guardian, Harpers, The Atlantic, the Financial Times, Artforum, and The Art Newspaper. Her early work with the artists' cooperative project Trade School was covered in the New York Times and The New Yorker. She speaks widely including at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Meaning Conference (Brighton, UK), and The Conference (Malmö, Sweden). She has taught at Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design, the School of Visual Arts, and California College of the Arts, and is a past recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Image © Shieva Rezvani

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Courses
Luke Blackadar
Attorney, Deputy Director of Legal Services at the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC)
Luke Blackadar is an attorney and the Deputy Director of Legal Services at the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC). An artist himself, he helps artists, creative start-ups, and arts nonprofits manage legal issues involving copyright, trademark, contracts, entity formation, and corporate governance. Luke also enjoys talking to groups of law students and artists and has recently spoken on art legal issues to the Americans for the Arts, the City of Boston, and students at Brown University, RISD, MassArt, and Lesley University. In addition to managing the A&BC’s legal interns, he teaches at the Boston University Metropolitan College and the Roger Williams University School of Law, and mentors students through the Northeastern University and Northeast Regional Black Law Student Associations. Luke is a graduate of Clark University and Northeastern University School of Law. In his spare time, he enjoys drawing, running, reading, and playing video games.
Courses
Marci Blackman + Diana Y Greiner
Founders of Treehouse Taxes
Treehouse Taxes, run by Diana Y Greiner and Marci Blackman in Brooklyn, New York, caters specifically to self-employed individuals and small businesses. They built the Treehouse so you will have a safe, fun, and friendly place to get your taxes done.
Marci has been providing a combination of tax preparation, bookkeeping, and accounting services to a wide range of clientele, including individuals, partnerships, and small corporations for the past 20 years. As a longtime freelancer and award-winning novelist, Marci understands what it means to “hustle” for your dreams, particularly as it pertains to taxes. As a partner in Treehouse Taxes LLC, Marci believes transferring knowledge and helping artists and freelancers become savvy taxpayers is a form of social justice.
Diana Y Greiner knows about cobbling together an income, tracking expenses, and pursuing a dream. She has spent over 20 years juggling the life of a performing artist while developing and maintaining her left brain as the managing director of an arts organization, a waitress, an acrobatics instructor, an office manager, a massage therapist, a bookkeeper, and finally a full-fledged tax nerd by earning her EA. Through it all she maintains that connection is the point of everything.
Courses
Pamela Capalad + Dyalekt
Hosts of Brunch & Budget
Pamela Capalad is a Certified Financial Planner™ and Accredited Financial Counselor™ who has worked in the field of financial services for over a decade. She founded Brunch & Budget to provide people who felt ashamed or embarrassed about money with a safe and friendly place to speak openly and make financial progress. Her mission is to make financial planning as affordable as possible for the communities who need it most. Her work has been featured in publications including the Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, and Vice Magazine. She was named in New York Magazine’s Best of New York 2019 and has brunched with over 400 people and counting.
Dyalekt is an MC, playwright, educator, and podcaster. His work focuses on defining personal identities and finding one’s voice, authentic communication, and supporting one’s community. His first album and one-man show, Square Peg Syndrome, is also a 6-week school curriculum that toured through St. Croix’s 17 schools. His new album and one-man show, The Museum of Dead Words, explores communication, race, and empathy in the internet age. Dyalekt was named to the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group and his performance venues include the Bowery Ballroom, SXSW, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mozilla’s Internet Festival in London, the United Nations, Santa Barbara’s Lucidity Festival, and the Divadlo Archa in Prague, CZ.
Pam and Dyalekt host the Brunch & Budget podcast, where they discuss how personal finance and racial economic inclusion intersect. They also co-founded the Race & Wealth Podcast Network with Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chief of Race, Wealth and Community at NCRC. Through what they’ve learned in their work, Dyalekt and Pam have started a group financial planning program called See Change, specifically designed for People of Color and make financial planning more inclusive.
Courses
Laura Levin-Dando
Staff Attorney at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of NY
Laura Levin-Dando, Staff Attorney at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of NY, advises clients on a range of issues, including disputes, contracts, and intellectual property matters. Laura also teaches and facilitates VLA’s educational programs. Laura received her J.D. from George Washington University Law School and graduated summa cum laude from Yeshiva University, where she studied history and music. A lifelong musical theatre nerd, Laura feels very fortunate to be able to help artists from all disciplines through her work at VLA.
Courses
Miata Edoga
Actor, President and Founder of Abundance Bound
Miata Edoga is an actor and the President and Founder of Abundance Bound, the premiere financial education company for creative entrepreneurs. She created The Artist’s Prosperity System™, which has provided thousands of artists with a step-by-step process to significantly improve their financial situations, giving them more time and freedom to focus on their creative careers. Miata and other Abundance Bound facilitators, all working artists themselves, lead workshops and seminars on financial empowerment for organizations including: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Television Academy, WGA, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, The Actors Fund, The Motion Picture & Television Fund and The Center for Cultural Innovation.
Yanely Espinal
Director of Education Outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance
Yanely Espinal is the Director of Education Outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance and the Creator of the MissBeHelpful YouTube channel, where she posts weekly videos about money. Born and raised by Dominican, immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, Yanely is a proud product of NYC public schools. She majored in Art at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School before going on to receive her bachelor's degree in History of Art/Architecture and Visual Art at Brown University. She later earned her master's degree in teaching and after struggling with credit card debt, became passionate about personal finance education. When she isn't working, she sews, paints, listens to podcasts, and babysits her 8 nieces and nephews.
Ana Fiore
Director of Artist Services at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)
As Director of Artist Services at LMCC, Ana Fiore oversees re-grant programs in support of community-based arts programming in Manhattan; artist residencies providing work space for creative development; the SU-CASA program, connecting artists with senior centers; and other artist service initiatives within the organization. The core of these programs is to increase the range of resources available to artists. Prior to LMCC, Ana aided fiscally sponsored artists at the New York Foundation for the Arts with a focus on demystifying the fundraising process. She has also served the Center for Performance Research, The Joyce, and Danspace Project.
Courses
Ian Fuller
Co-founder and Partner of Westfuller
Ian Fuller is a co-founder and partner of Westfuller, a financial and wealth management firm that provides advice, strategy, and investment management for values-aligned global individuals, families, and institutions.
A specialist in evidence-driven, global wealth advisory and planning, strategic investment management, and philanthropic giving, he works closely with people and institutions to empower wealth with purpose. Ian is also the board chair of Common Justice, a restorative and criminal justice reform organization, and serves as the treasurer/finance chair for many social justice organizations, including: civil rights organization Color of Change, economic justice impact fund The Workers Lab, the private foundation Proteus Action League, and Amalgamated bank’s Charitable Foundation.